February 20, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Teaches on Outer vs. Inner Purity
Scripture: Matthew 15:1-20(NIV)
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Devotional
I grew up with three brothers and a dad. That meant that my hands were dirty most of my childhood. I can still hear my mom declaring, “Wash your hands boys! Don’t touch anything in the house until you clean up. No coming to the table before you use soap and water.”
Who could blame her. We were either covered in mud from playing football in the yard, layered in asphalt from playing basketball on the blacktop driveway, smeared in grease from repairing a car in the garage, or coated in dirt from working in the garden. That’s just a partial list. But I never thought Mom was saying we were spiritually unclean. She was just worried about her curtains.
Once again the Pharisees had rules for their rules. They turned hand washing into a Kumbayah experience. Jesus corrected them. What you eat and how you eat it are not what puts distance between you and God. Rather, what you do and what you say are the problem. Jesus isn’t concerned about the stomach and digestive system. However, He does challenge us to be in alignment with Him in thought, word, and deed.
Real defiling dirt comes from evil hearts that concoct evil thoughts that become evil desires that pursue evil actions. James 1:14-15 says, “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
Defilement works its way from the inside-out, not the other way around.
I’m still gonna make my grandchildren wash their hands before eating.
Poem
Sheminith - Eighth
Psalm 12
A list I set before you
Unfaithful eight they be
Impurity full on display
Express unloyalty
The first, a lying gossip
The second, flattery
The third, deceptive poisoned words
The fourth, tongue’s bragging spree
The fifth, the haughtiness of pride
The sixth, plunder of poor
The seventh, slurring neighbor harsh
The eighth, vile things honored
These eight impure traits cast off
And with sincerity
Allow God’s word to wash you clean
Reclothe in purity
